32 wrote:The only thing that worries me is the slippery slope that these vague injury updates typically harvest. We saw it with Monta's moped ordeal. I'm afraid of Bogut's missing opening night turning into the first week turning into the first 3 weeks. He's been off it since January; yet he didn't have his surgery til late April. If he's going to miss the first month, a lot of us fans will be wondering why he didn't have the surgery closer to when we acquired him in mid March...

When I tore my ACL it happened in December, but couldn't have surgery until Feb because we had to wait until the swealing went down so the doctors could go in there and do what they needed to get done. I imagine that he had a similar issue. It isn't abnormal to have to wait. Also, with broken bones sometimes they have to see if the bone settles in the right position, and if it doesn't, then they go in a move it into position, but they perfer to not have to do that if it isn't necesary.

Touché sir.

I've never broken a bone (*knock on wood*), so I have no idea what surgery entails.

I recall when they initially gave the 7-10 day prediction, Myers clarified and said its probably be closer to 3 weeks out of action, which would lead one to believe Bogut will return November 29th against Denver... Although, as SLAM points out, he might actually be held out until 2013 to get him back to 100%.

This is getting really worrisome. How many years does someone miss because of an ankle injury? This is so much more painful because Bogut has been fantastic on the court this year. We look so much better with him in the middle barking orders, bothering opponents and displaying his trademark cleverness around the rim.

This so much resembles that last year's Curry injury. On and off, never fully healed. It gets annoying. We traded Ellis so we could have help from Bogut this year, we accepted the fact that we were going to tank last season. But it was never mentioned that it would drag this much, and so deep into this season. I'm not happy, honestly...at least for now.

What this does allow, and it is a good thing, is for the rest of the team to learn how to play without him and fill his position. Ezeli should be getting valuable playing time, which he hasn't lately, and that'd give him experience to be at least an adequate Center. Landry gets alot of court time and he is being effective. Players like Draymond Green get to play, also giving them valuable experience. Barnes also gets the ball in his hands a bit ore and gets the chance to be valuable on the defensive end if he can do that.

When Bogut gets back, the team can finally make a move up the standings, or at least should do.

Bogut has had an microfracture surgery in april, on his ankle, reportedly these kind of surgeries heal for 12 months or more. Warrior fans were lied to again. It was being covered up like **** and even forcing bogut to play. The tickets were sold, but bogut might be out for the most of the season. Playing on microfracturely repaired ankle in its 6th month of healing?! Depressing.

Woodson: Is the tougher part right now the physical rehab or ... the frustration?

Bogut: It's both. It was a microfracture surgery, which is something that most players take 12 months to get over. I'm not saying it's gonna take me 12 months, but ... just because someone says you're out six months, it doesn't mean that in six months and one day you're ready to go full speed in the NBA. That's just not realistic. Hopefully another week or two and I can be back out there and not have any more hiccups for the rest of the season, but at the same time, if I'm not ready in a week or two, we're going to have to re-evaluate again.

The sad, horrible truth is that we gotta ask ourselves an increasingly realistic, looming question:

At what point, this season, do we shut down Bogut again?

Cause, clearly, Curry has benefitted from extended time off to rest his ankle. And with the new CBA rules in effect, Bogut can actually get more money if he resigns here than if he goes elsewhere. So if we truly believe he's our future at center (he's still young; 2005 wasn't THAT long ago) and we've reconciled ourselves to resigning him if he's healthy, at what point do we stop encouraging him to play on a flimsy ankle that, by all accounts, still hasn't healed? The team is surviving without him using a combination of Ezeli's size and hot potato offense from Lee/Landry. If the playoffs started today, the Warriors are in. And that's having accumulated a winning record on a very road heavy start to the season.

If Bogut is out until the all-star break, do we bring him back or sit him the rest of the year? How about if Bogut is ready 3 weeks before the playoffs... What then? How long do we keep hoping for a return and how soon do we start talking about shutting him down, securing a pick, and doing it all again next year?

To me, thinking about when to shut him down is pointless. We don't have all the information. We don't know what's going on, what his ankle looks like, and how he's progressing. Leave it to the organization.

I will say this though. Right now, when Ezeli comes off the court, teams are attacking the rim. I can't wait to see Bogut in the starting lineup so that Ezeli can come off the bench with Landry and Jack. I think our defensive and offensive efficiencies will improve when Bogut gets back on the floor. Defense because of the depth and offensively because he just has more veteran know-how than Ezeli.

To me, thinking about when to shut him down is pointless. We don't have all the information. We don't know what's going on, what his ankle looks like, and how he's progressing. Leave it to the organization.

I will say this though. Right now, when Ezeli comes off the court, teams are attacking the rim. I can't wait to see Bogut in the starting lineup so that Ezeli can come off the bench with Landry and Jack. I think our defensive and offensive efficiencies will improve when Bogut gets back on the floor. Defense because of the depth and offensively because he just has more veteran know-how than Ezeli.

Target date for his return is Dec. 1st.

Not so sure about that:

OAKLAND -- Warriors center Andrew Bogut was at the facility Monday, but he did not practice as expected.

Golden State announced that Bogut, who has missed the past nine games while recovering from surgery on his left ankle in April, was rejoining the team after spending nearly a week away. He was in Los Angeles rehabbing his left ankle under the supervision of Dr. Richard Ferkel, who performed the surgery on Bogut in April.

There was hope that Bogut could return to practice Monday, even reports of him returning to game action this week. But everything is based on what Bogut's ankle can handle, and clearly he isn't ready for practice yet.

I actually dont' have a problem with the fact he's not rushing it.. I know they gave a 7-10 day window for his return, and I was very skeptical of that and knew it would be much longer.. The thing is, we're doing well right now without him, which is very fortunate. This means we can afford to allow him to really heal. No need to rush it. If we can somehow maintain a winning record for another two weeks or so, THEN bring him back, that would be ideal. I'm sure he's going to come back sooner than two weeks, but all i'm saying is they really need to make sure when he's back - HE'S BACK.

And to add to my post above, looks like Bogut's not even close to being ready:

OAKLAND -- A frustrated Andrew Bogut told reporters Tuesday that no timetable has been set for his return, but the Warriors center definitely ruled out Saturday. He also acknowledged that he may have set himself back by trying to play on his still-healing ankle at the outset of the season.

The Warriors previously announced Bogut would try to return to practice this week. But Bogut said Tuesday that he was just running and shooting, not taking part in organized practice.

Not good, but I'd rather him stay out until he really is ready. Team has been doing well without him and reality is that when he does get back, the team will get such a boost that they could really push to rise in the standings.

I predicated this season with worries regarding the slippery slope of injuries that don't have return dates. I was afraid one game would become three would become a month. I never feared we'd be without Bogut for the first 2 months of the season, but with experts claiming 2013 is the earliest he'll be ready, - and Bogut coming out acknowledging that he'd further set himself back by playing on it - one can't help but wonder if this 8-6, first place start can sustain. Sooner or later, we'll play Memphis again. We'll play the Lakers again. We'll play Sacramento and Dallas again. And the second time around, these teams may be much more inclined to attack the basket without a shot-blocker. For now, Jackson has decided the free throw line is a faction he'll sacrifice to prevent momentum building lay-ups and dunks, but how many games can a team win shooting 10-20 less free throws than its opposite number?

I mean, for Chrissakes... Bogut was given ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD and he still managed to do the ONE THING the team wanted him not to do: waste time addressing a seasonal set-back that was brought on by playing too soon. If Bogut missed the first 3 weeks of the season, would he have been healthy enough to get through the remainder? I suppose we'll never know.

I said before the season that we'd need 65 games of Bogut to get into the playoffs. I'd love to be wrong, but even if Bogut played the rest of the calendar without interruption (which, he won't): that'd be 72 games. He's already ruled out the next 2, so that's 70... Looks like he probably won't hit that 65 number this year.

Marcus Thompson wrote:Golden State Warriors: Bogut had microfracture surgery. What does it mean?

As it turns out, Warriors center Andrew Bogut did have microfracture surgery on his left ankle in April, as he revealed on a Bay Area radio station Tuesday. But, according to team sources, it's not the same as the alarming procedure we learned about through the likes of Penny Hardaway, Chris Webber and Greg Oden.

Well, it's the same surgery. Just not the same situation.

"Some people go in for microfracture surgery. This wasn't that," one source said pointing out that players who are experiencing chronic and degenerative problems turn to microfracture surgery.

Bogut, on the other hand, went in to get his left ankle cleaned out of scar tissue and bone fragments. When Dr. Richard Ferkel was inside, he noticed a "minor" cartilage issue and he addressed it with a form of microfracture surgery. The major part of the surgery, the source said, was cleaning out the debris.

The important thing, another source said, is the microfracture surgery part of the procedure was accounted for when Ferkel gave the Warriors his timetable for Bogut's return.

Even though Golden State failed to mention the microfracture part -- probably because the words "microfracture surgery" comes with a stigma they didn't want out there -- and even though the Warriors initially said Bogut would be out for three months, nothing has changed from what Ferkel said.

He was given the OK to test out his ankle after six months (which put him back to practice on Oct. 27). He was to be limited when he came back, hence the minutes limit and the prohibition of back-to-back sets. The rest would be determined by how his ankle responded and how he felt.

When Bogut decided to shut it down earlier this month, everything really shifted to "he'll be back when he's back" mode. Now, Warriors officials are avoiding any timetables. Several in the organization were hopeful Bogut would keep playing at a limited capacity because he still gave the Warriors something. But once he pulled back, they had no choice but to exercise patience.

As previously reported here, Golden State management was expecting for Bogut to be out until December even though the initial evaluation timeline given was seven to 10 days. And nobody would be shocked if he didn't return until the new year. Bogut suggested as much Tuesday when he told reporters he wasn't close to ready.

Bottom line: Bogut's ankle was kind of a mess when Ferkel went in; the doc knew all along it would take a long time; and the Warriors (and Bogut) were in denial that Ferkel was being conservative. He wasn't.

Suffice to say, I don't buy MT's casual tone here. Micro-fracture surgery is the kiss of death for big men and I'm legitimately upset about the trade now. It finally makes sense why Milwaukee would make such a bone-headed trade: Bogut, until he can play for 35 minutes (which may be never) is officially damaged goods. Goddammit.